Why Buddhism is good for my heart.

I read this yesterday in Buddhism for Mothers- while laying in the sun, feeling the breeze, soaking up the beautiful day on a quilt from my own mother...

"With equanimity we accept 'what is' and stop trying to control the inevitable and impermanent. Buddhism speaks of Eight Worldly Conditions: life is gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and disrepute. No matter how hard we try to attract or avoid any of these, we'll experience all of them in their turn. Each will come and go, just as every aspect of our lives is constantly changing. We never know what's round the corner and this can leave us ill at ease, yet to expect complete stability or control over events is unrealistic and ensures that we suffer more than necessary."

This passage hit me HARD. It was a moment of clarity that I haven't had of such magnitude in nearly 10 years. It's possible that the story attached to it had something to do with it, about a mother who wanted a home birth with a midwife and candles and ended up in the hospital with a c-section.

I all of a sudden realized that all the pain, regret and disappointment I've been feeling is all my own doing. These things happen. Good things happen too. It's not personal, it's just life.

I love that, and I feel lighter... And like *that* I can move on. :)